'The Dark Tower' Also Turned Down by Warner Bros.

August 21, 2012 02:39:25 GMT

The high-profile project from Ron Howard is turned down by Warners after previously being dropped by Universal Pictures.

Another studio has passed on "The Dark Tower". After Universal Pictures dropped the multi-movie adaptation of Stephen King's novel series, Warner Bros. turns down proposal for the ambitious project from Ron Howard and Imagine Entertainment, Variety reports.

Though the latest rejection doesn't necessarily mean the end of the planned super-sized franchise, it could be a serious blow to the efforts to bring the fantasy books into several feature films and a TV series. Neither Warners nor Imagine release comment on the news.

Howard and Imagine aim to make three films based on "The Dark Tower" with the TV series filling the gap between each movie. Akiva Goldsman is on board to provide the screenplay and has reportedly delivered his latest draft for the first film.

Javier Bardem was initially expected to portray gunslinger Roland Deshain, who travels across a desolate and vaguely post-apocalyptic landscape in his quest for a black tower. Russell Crowe later showed interest to take the lead role if the project got a greenlight from Warners.